TV is definitely cool again. And I will be doing my bit to help make it cooler this September at Adelaide’s TV Mini Lab.

The brainchild of the South Australian Film Corp, the TV Mini Lab will help up to ten TV projects reach pitch readiness, with the ultimate aim of stimulating local production for their new studios.

From the perspective of both a writer who developed a drama project with Southern Star and now a development exec helping the company shape drama projects for network pitching, I’ll be outlining various processes, models and creative approaches undertaken at Southern Star for making drama projects network friendly.

Applications close August 6 through the SAFC, so get yourself a form (and hopefully a South Australian based producer) and I hope to see you there.

Lee Groves – most recently known as the production force behind Bertie Blackman’s ARIA blitzing last album – is desperately seeking cinematic inspiration. As such, you could have this composer/producer/programmer/mixer as maestro on your next short.

For three years he worked with Mark “Spike” Stent at the MixSuite, Olympic Studios, with projects including tracks for Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, Aqualung, Goldfrapp and forthcoming Radiohead tracks.

This gives but a hint of the man’s diverse talent. Dazzle him with your next film idea.

The Chauvel possibly hadn’t seen so such a big audience in a long while. And that was precisely the problem. Which is why it was packed to the rafters for Metro Screen‘s industry event ‘OZ FILMS Vs. OZ AUDIENCE‘, a panel based discussion a few hours ago led by Andrew Urban.

The findings were varied, so much so that aspirations for a 10-point plan at the beginning resulted in only two by the end – and one of those divided opinion.

But the resounding message, proposed by AFTRS’ Dr Karen Pearlman and discussed at length in the December issue of the film school’s journal Lumina, was that Australia needs to “stop telling its own stories” and start “making more myths”. Stories of scale, dynamism and, above all, inspiration.

In other words, it needs less slit-your-wrists a’capella style films and more anthems to rouse the masses. (Or, more’s the point, both. And everything in between.) Where is the We Will Rock You of Australian film? The Wonderwall? The FIFA World Cup playlist?

Then we might hear the stomp of many happy feet into our cinemas when the next Australian film is screening.

Other highlights of the night included:

• “It’s a fallacy that [Australia] has poor creativity. I read five scripts a week and most of them are crap. A good script is really, really difficult and we churn out about as many of them as you’d expect.” – Troy Lum, Hopscotch Entertainment

• “Remember what Hitchcock said: Film is life with the boring bits cut out.’ Well, we don’t cut the boring bits out!” – Tony Ginnane, http://www.spaa.org.au/

• “We need to get some perspective: these people [who don’t watch Australian films] wouldn’t have seen Half Nelson either, or La Vie En Rose – and that was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film!” – Rachel Ward, director of Beautiful Kate

• “Think of the last ride in The Man From Snowy River. Australian audiences want that moment! They don’t mind the tough trip but they want that payoff.” – Margaret Pomeranz, At The Movies

• “It’s not the number of drafts, it’s the idea behind it. Every writer should have 20 ideas. If one’s not right, stop peddling it around! Move on to another one… This is the business of ideas.” – Troy Lum

and…

• “These are good films. If Australian don’t want to see them, STUFF THEM! They’re bloody lazy!” – Margaret Pomeranz

To hear Troy Lum talk more about “the business of ideas” and his place in it, come to Friday On My Mind tonight, Friday Oct 23, at AFTRS.

Ron Cobb is an American cartoonist and concept artist based in Sydney whose credits include Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Last Starfighter (1984), Back to the Future (1985), The Abyss (1989) and Total Recall (1990).

In this outtake from my interview with him yesterday, we glean an anecdote about his friend Douglas Adams, the author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and renowned Apple advocate:

“Douglas was a great enthusiast about science and humour and satire. I was asked to design an early TV version of Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy that was never made. Douglas didn’t like the BBC version – though I liked it. Douglas and I hit it off immediately. But ultimately the ABC [American Broadcasting network] wanted to Americanise it too much. That was ultimately a disastrous idea and much to my relief it was cancelled.

“I can say I brought Douglas into the world of computers, which he satirized so much in Hitchhiker’s Guide. I said ‘they really are going to be marvelous, extraordinary things!’ I eventually talked him into getting a little Macintosh. He later traveled the world advocating Apple computers and knew far more about computers than I ever did! In his apartment in London he had a whole room stacked with old Macintoshes!”

– Douglas Adams was an Apple user until his death in 2001. Adams was made an “Apple Master”, one of several celebrities (including included John Cleese and Gregory Hines) whom Apple made into spokespeople for its products.

A full interview with Ron Cobb will be published in the December issue of Lumina.